In challenging times, dysfunctional organizations hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. Healthy organizations look around for creative solutions to the problems they face, and join in the discussion of great ideas to find the very best solutions. San Jose Public Library is one of those healthy, although challenged organizations. Over many years of change, through very difficult budget times, our staff have not only willingly joined in the discussion, in many cases we are leading the discussion.

Some recent examples:

At a recent conference entitled "Internet Librarian", people from across the library field came together to discover the best ideas for using the Internet to further the educational and informational needs of library users. Two of our Library Managers were presenters of workshops, and our entire "Digital Futures Web Team" was in attendance, learning and sharing great ideas.

Over 100 staff from libraries who are users of the circulation and purchasing system (ILS) called "Millenium" from across Northern California were hosted here at King Library on a recent Friday to share experiences, best practices, and to suggest ideas for new product development to the vendor. This event was hosted by SJPL SJSU managers and has become a great place for great solutions to issues to be discussed.

Then, the annual California Library Association Conference was held in Sacramento and San Jose Public Library was well represented by attendees as well as workshop presenters - twenty library staff spent the weekend discussing, networking, debating, and generally making the future of libraries a brighter one.

We are very proud of what we do at San Jose Public Library for the people of San Jose in providing the best possible library service, but also what we do for the library community as it comes together to solve very difficult issues and looks to making libraries relevant and effective in the future.